Round 10 Review – Futsal Premier League Open Women’s
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-10 Saturday had Campbelltown Quake beat Enfield Allstars 7-2, Eastern Suburbs Hakoah down Boomerangs FS 4-1, Inner West Magic edge Mountain Majik 6-5, and UTS Northside upset Mascot Vipers 2-0.
The results place Mascot (21) ahead of Campbelltown (21) on goal-difference with Inner West (18), Easts (17) and Northside (16) all able to move up the ladder or miss out on the finals in the final four rounds of action.
But while the run home to the finals will be riveting reading, it’s all hats off to Magic’s Rhianna ‘Mini’ Pollicina who became the first female player [in the world] to smash through the NSW Premier League 100-goal barrier – a fourth hat-trick of the summer [versus Majik] bouncing her to 102 goals across eight glorious summers.
It’s 30+ goals more than next-best and current team-mates Cambaz (70) and Osman (61) and her stats are simply unrivalled: five times she’s collected a four-goal match tally (Hakoah’s Tamires Souza next with two), 11 hat-trick totals almost double Mascot’s Mariel Hecher (6) and Mountain’s Ashlie Crofts (who got five in one season), and 22 multiple-scoring games heads futsal talisman Caitlin Campbell (16).
[Ed: Read more about Pollicina’s accomplishments in an upcoming feature article – but for now, you can offer your congratulations in the comments section]
Campbelltown Quake 7 (Linda Dudek 2, Sheridan Gallagher, Olivia Sloan 2, Eliza Pereira 2) Enfield Allstars 2 (Bianca Radman, )
Boomerangs FS 1 (Alex McKenzie) Eastern Suburbs Hakoah 4 (Tamires Souza, Tara Murphy, Zoe Halpin, )
Mountain Majik 5 (Bethany Gordon, Monique Holder 2, Tara Pender 2) Inner West Magic 6 (Rhianna Pollicina 3, Ceyda Cambaz, Bianca Galic)
Mascot Vipers 0 UTS Northside 2 (Yesim Uzunlar 2)
Quake rattle Allstars
A young Campbelltown Quake brigade were emphatic in a 7-2 Saturday-afternoon dismissal of Enfield Allstars at Minto Sports Stadium.
Linda Dudek again opened the Quake account following a neat through-ball from Renee Rollason, the combination between the two becoming quite a nuisance for opposition defense, and soon after Sheridan Gallagher doubled the lead with some individual brilliance.
Allstars weren’t to be taken lightly as Olivia Hardaker, Bianca Radman and Gabrielle Sarkis looked lively for the visitors but any minor chance was defused by Campbelltown keeper Bree Clarke.
16-year-old Olivia Sloan earned Quake a third goal with a tidy finish from a Dudek ball, and the combination play of the two livewires saw Sloan post a second when she followed a target ball for the return of a silky Dudek backheel to make it a tidy 4-0 break at oranges.
The second half saw a more aggressive Enfield press and Radman would get reward for her efforts finishing with precision from close range, but the home turned on the afterburners and some brilliant play from Eliza Pereira saw a flick up the line to Dudek who hit a square ball for Pereira to bury low beyond Allstars keeper Olivia Riddle.
Dudek would finish the match with a double when a superb ball from Rollason spilt the defense off a kick-in that saw Dudek tap-in and later a powerful yet typical Dudek strike gave the ‘Polish Princess’ a tally of four for the game, Enfield grabbing a late consolation to round out a 7-2 scoreline.
Campbelltown coach Mel Keith was all smiles this week: “The performance was incredible,” she said.
“Five women’s players and seven girls under the age of 17 took the court today and the performance was one of the best for the season.
“Olivia Sloan is proving how valuable she is for us alongside the combination of Rollason and Dudek.
“We now have a big weekend against [top-four sides] Hakoah and Magic, so we need to roll off today’s performance to maintain a good spot coming into finals.”
Easts bring down Boomerangs
Eastern Suburbs Hakoah were simply too good for Boomerangs FS in a 4-1 victory at Q-One Indoor Sports Queanbeyan on Saturday afternoon.
It was 2-0 at the break and Easts went on with it in the second term to capture a third-straight road win, Tamires Souza, Tara Murphy and Zoe Halpin netting for Hakoah to cancel an Alex McKenzie strike for Boomerangs.
Magic dispel Majik
Inner West Magic staved off a stubborn Mountain Majik in a high-excitement 6-5 win at Hawkesbury Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Magic bolted to a 3-0 lead after just 15 minutes and, with nothing to lose, Majik countered with a fifth-man powerplay that they sustained for the remainder of the game.
Under relentless pressure Inner West still took a 3-1 lead into halftime and extended the margin to 4-1 after the restart before Mountain finally got some reward for their toil, halving the deficit with plenty of time left on the clock.
However, Magic scored the next two goals to stake a 6-2 claim and it proved all the difference as Majik stormed home with three late goals, but they were beaten by the clock and a brilliant Inner West display, particularly from their youngsters.
Magic coach Matteo Maiorana said the scoreline was probably closer than it should’ve been but gave full credit to his side’s effort.
“I was really happy with the girls. We’ve had an up-and-down season to date but we’ve changed a few things in the last two matches and we’ve found something that works,” he said.
“We only had four women’s players available [missing Doris Osman, Tori Tumeth and Ashleigh Palombi] but they were brilliant!”
“They knew the importance of the game, not only for the women’s but more importantly the Club Championship, and they rose brilliantly to the occasion.”
It was a rewarding week for Inner West as they moved into a successive Futsal Cup final after toppling Mascot 3-1 in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
11 match-goals is the also joint-fourth highest scoreline in the past eight years (short of Mountain’s incredible 14-1 win over Mascot in 2014/15), and Majik’s gut-wrenching loss equaled the highest score reached without winning (Boomerangs fell by the same scoreline to Campbelltown back in 2012/13, while Boomerangs and Inner West Magic drew 5-5 in 2013/14).
Falling five points behind fourth-placed Easts, Mountain still have a chance of making the playoffs but face a must-win scenario against Mascot next weekend.
Northside stun Mascot
UTS Northside were above magnificent in shutting out ladder-leaders Mascot Vipers 2-0 at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday night.
Yesim Uzunlar was the hero for Northside scoring both goals in an amazing team performance that moved UTS into third place and whet the premiership appetite of a handful of teams as Mascot’s competition lead dwindled away.
Understandably UTS coach Danny Beauchamp was one happy-chappy: “The girls were dominant and [put in a] very good performance,” he said.
“We could have scored a few more and I’m very happy leading into the Cup game [semi-final versus Raiders] and [next weekend’s] double-header.”
Next games
2019/20 Women’s Futsal Premier League round-11 starts with a Friday night game between Enfield Allstars and Inner West Magic at Morris Iemma Indoor Sports Centre (8pm), followed on Saturday by Mountain Majik versus Mascot Vipers at Valentine Sports Park (5pm), Eastern Suburbs Hakoah against Campbelltown Quake at All Sorts Indoor Sports Centre (5.30pm), and UTS Northside face Boomerangs FS at PCYC Dee Why (5.40pm). All sides then back on for round-11 games on Sunday.
